First Abu Dhabi Bank launches MENASSA, a new post-trade platform for MENA-based asset managers

Abu Dhabi, 26 February 2024: First Abu Dhabi Bank has launched MENASSA (MENA Securities Services for Asset Managers), a new post-trade platform designed specifically for MENA-based asset managers that introduces new levels of sophistication for securities services in the region. MENASSA, the Arabic word for ‘platform’, incorporates a suite of world-class modular services delivered from a single platform, including Global Custody, Fund Accounting, Transfer Agency, Performance & Risk Measurement, and Middle Office Services, fully integrated with FAB’s leading Capital Markets and Investment Banking capabilities.

MENASSA demonstrates FAB’s deployment of innovation and technology to enhance the operating framework for asset and wealth managers in the region, empowering them with world-class services, helping them develop scale and deliver better client solutions.

FAB’s new platform is designed to navigate global regulatory complexities that impact investment flows. With MENASSA, FAB focuses on the region-specific requirements of the growing asset and wealth management sectors. What sets it apart is the world-class component products it offers, supported by client service and fund regulatory experts based in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman, who deliver the service in line with local regulatory and operating requirements.

Markets in the Middle East are expected to outpace the North American, Asia-Pacific and European regions in assets under management (AuM) growth, despite regional regulatory complexities, as assets and wealth management (AWM) organisations seek new markets, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers’ (PwC) 2023 Global Asset and Wealth Management survey and 2027 projections. PwC forecasts global AuM to reach a base case of USD 147 trillion by 2027, representing a compound annual growth rate of 5%. In this scenario, growth rates in Asia-Pacific would be roughly 50% higher than in North America by 2027, while previously slow industry expansion in the Middle East would also be expected to pick up.

Martin Tricaud, Group Head of Investment Banking, said, “FAB’s mission aligns with the government’s vision to establish the UAE as a global finance hub and gateway to regional trade. The launch of MENASSA will enable FAB to provide an innovative, full-service, all-encompassing platform enriched with invaluable regional expertise tailored to support asset managers, as the region’s investment sector evolves.”

Kashif Darr, Head of Securities Services at FAB said: “The MENA region has increasingly become a hub for asset and wealth management as governments introduce more robust regulatory frameworks and initiatives to encourage the establishment of local investment companies. This has meant that not only more of the region’s wealth is retained within the region, but it is also attracting significant foreign wealth inflows. MENASSA is designed to support this increase in the growth and complexity of the MENA investment industry, offering region-specific specialist expertise and product sets to support asset and wealth managers with the region’s differentiated investment regulatory and operational landscape.”